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Central’s 5-3 mark is mediocre

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 06 May 2009 17:57:00 GMT

BY MATT SCHOOLEY

Despite a threegame winning streak, the Central boys lacrosse team is not quite living up to its own expectations.

The Little Green knocked off West on Thursday, April 30, to improve to 5-3, but the five wins have come against teams at the bottom of the Division I standings.

“Right now we’re middle of the pack, which is not where we anticipated being at the beginning of the year,” said head coach Bill Lawson following a 14-1 victory over the Blue Knights. “We need to improve a lot.”

Hooksett resident Justin Colvin scored four goals, and Billy Lawson piled up a hat trick and two assists in the win over West, which is 1-4 on the year.

The Little Green have outscored Salem, Memorial, Nashua North, Nashua South and West by a combined 65-9 in its five wins, but those teams have only four wins among them.

Two of Central’s losses have come against undefeated Pinkerton and Bishop Guertin.

“We weren’t seeing the slides on defense (against West) that we’ll normally see,” said the Little Green mentor. “They didn’t have a real sustained offense, so it is kind of hard to gauge where we are at in a game like that. Any win is a confidence boost, but we don’t want to read too much into it.”

Tommy Hobbs was dominating on faceoffs against the Blue Knights, and Marc Perroni continued to pace the offense, scoring two goals and dishing out two assists.

Lawson said his team needs to improve its stick skills and work on becoming more physical if it wants to make a run in the playoffs.

The next three games for the Little Green come against Concord, Hanover and Exeter, all teams above .500 in the early going.

Central’s season ends with coach eagerly awaiting follow-up

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 19:21:00 GMT

BY RYAN O’CONNOR

A 15-5 playoff loss to Pinkerton in the Division I quarterfinals aside, Bill Lawson is ecstatic about the progress his Central boys lacrosse team made this season.

“We ended up 10-9, including the playoffs, but we had five losses in tight games that could have gone either way,” said Lawson, who added that learning to win those close contests is part of the team’s maturation process. “If a couple of those go our way, it changes our seeding position and maybe things are different for us, but we certainly took a huge step this year."

Not only were the Little Green’s 167 goals scored the most in the program’s five year history, but their 117 goals against was a school record as well.

They also reached doubledigit wins for the first time, finishing the regular season with a 10-8 record, and they reached the playoffs by defeating several opponents they had never beaten before. That list includes a 10-7 win against Souhegan, a 10-4 triumph over Nashua South, and a 9-6 victory at Concord.

“From a team perspective, we had a lot of good things happen this year,” said Lawson. “In fact, we keep getting better and better each year.”

Though the team loses eight of its leaders in seniors Jeff Monk, Kellan Grady, Ryan Gerrell, Shea McCarthy, Scott McCurdy and Ross Croasdale, Thomas Houle and Kris Butler, the majority of the Lawson’s players return.

And that gives the coach hope for further improvement next season.

“We’re bringing back twothirds of our defense and our two leading scorers, and we hope a bunch of the sophomores can transition up,” he said. “My reasonable expectation is that we improve on this year, and that’s as far as I’m going to go with it. I mean, I’d like to see us go a lot further, but I don’t want to put too much pressure on these kids just yet.”

Among those expected to take the field for Central in 2009 are Billy Lawson and Marc Perroni, who led the team in scoring this season. Tyler Pratte and Pat Tatro are again expected to anchor the defense in front of goalies Ethan Brown and Shaun Vesey, who will each see time in net. With a little more depth and some more seasoning, the sky’s the limit for those returning, said Lawson.

“I certainly expect them to not put their sticks away,” he said. “I expect them to go find a wall or someone to practice with and get even better in the offseason. I’m also a firm believer in kids playing multiple sports. Some of our best athletes play other sports, too, so I want to see them doing that as well.”

Others expected to return next season include Felipe Acevedo, Brandon Blackall, Ethan Brown, Kyle Clayton, Justin Colvin, Graham Conforti, Ryan Dempsey, Tom Hobbs, Austin Smith, and Jake Tremblay.

Central has improved, but team continues chase of division’s best

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 07 May 2008 18:41:00 GMT

BY RYAN O’CONNOR

It was a tale of two halves.

The second half, which Central girls lacrosse coach Whitney Nelson said is more indicative of her team’s level of talent, saw the Little Green match undefeated Souhegan goal-for-goal for 20 of 25 minutes.

The first half, which Nelson said she’s rather forget, was quite the opposite. Goaltender Emily Goupil was peppered with a barrage of shots and the locals fell into a 12-3 hole.

Though Central lost the game on Tuesday, May 6, 20- 7, Nelson said she believes the contest is an aberration, rather than the norm for her 8-2 squad.

“(Souhegan) is a fast team. We’re in great shape, but they were just a step quicker than we were tonight,” said Nelson.

“Honestly, I think there was a little … well a lot of lack of communication with my defense,” she continued. “But they have been doing a great job all season, and I think the 8-2 record speaks for itself, so I think just reiterating those key points with them at halftime, they were at least able to step it up a little bit. And my offense was obviously able to turn it on as well.”

Nelson, in her first year at Central after two years at West, has already doubled the Little Green’s win total from a year ago.

“I think the heart and the desire of the girls and their natural talent has really shown this year,” she said. “Having some leadership on and off the field has helped us kind of put a lot of the pieces of the puzzle together.” Goupil, Chantale Lacroix, Ryann Gibbons and Katie Nichols lead the current squad.

Still, Nelson is the first to acknowledge her team is still young and said she hopes its best games are yet to come. The Little Green roster includes three seniors, three juniors and 11 underclassmen.

“Our goal that we talked about up to this point is to be top four this year, and I still think we can make it to the final four,” said Nelson. “We’re just going to continue to grow over the next couple of years, and I think you’re going to see us make a big impact on this division.”

Pembroke Academy’s first triumph comes courtesy of fourth-quarter heroics

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:03:00 GMT

BY RYAN O’CONNOR
It was the first win in the program’s first year, and it came in dramatic fashion.

The Pembroke Academy boys lacrosse team, entrenched in a low-scoring battle with Pelham on Thursday, April 17, entered the fourth quarter up, 2-1. However, two quick Pelham goals put the Spartans behind and, it seemed, on their way to a third straight loss to open the season.

But with 36 seconds left in regulation, midfielder Patrick McCormack picked up an unforced Pelham turnover, streaked down the field, dished the ball to Doug Merrill, who passed to Brian Roche, who found the back of the net.

Then, 19 seconds later, the Spartans did it again – this time on a McCormack tally with seven seconds left in the game to secure a 4-3 victory.

“I couldn’t be more happy with these guys showing that kind of heart and dedication,” said head coach Stephen Wallin. “I just put them on the field, and they do the rest.”

Nathan Huntley and defenseman Jordan MacRae scored Pembroke’s first two goals, giving

the locals a 2-0 edge.

Senior goalie Nate Komm played a tremendous game in net, said Walllin, who added MacRae earned the game ball for his relentless efforts and Merrill turned in a strong performance at midfield.

Prior to the victory, PA lost, 15-0, to both Portsmouth and Hollis-Brookline – two of the top teams in Division III. Getting the win against Pelham, said Wallin, was a huge boost to morale. “I think they can play with the best of the best,” he said. “I have high expectations for them. I definitely expect them to finish around .500 and maybe make the playoffs.”

Others contributing this season include seniors Ryan Foster, Andrew LaValley, Matt Lavoie, Richard Blye, Tobey Manning and Adam Gray; juniors Jerry Jarnigan, Christopher Allen and Vincent Verecchia-LaChance; and sophomores Matthew Sweeney, Dalton Sirrine, Samuel Harty and Jamison Syphers.

After falling short in 2007, Little Green’s strong backfield could carry them to playoffs

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 19:52:00 GMT

BY RYAN O’CONNOR

After losing a pivotal game down the stretch and missing the 2007 playoffs, Central boys lacrosse coach Bill Lawson admitted he and his players weren’t just disappointed to be on the outside of the postseason looking in. They were angry.

If their first 2008 contest is any indication, they’ll be spending the season taking that anger out on anyone who crosses their path.

First up was Salem, on Monday, April 7.

The Little Green stuck a pitch fork in the Blue Devils, 12-1, though Lawson said the key to reaching the postseason isn’t beating up on mediocre opponents, but rather winning contests against upper-echelon squads like Bishop Guertin and Souhegan.

“We missed the playoffs by a tiebreaker last season, and we didn’t like it. But we only had two seniors last year, and that makes us a much more mature team this year,” said Lawson of a squad that finished 7-9 after losing a late-season contest, 10- 9, to Souhegan, which took the final playoff spot. “In a backand- forth game, we made some dumb mistakes, and Souhegan’s experience won out.”

This season, Central fields 11 seniors.

It’s strength, said Lawson, is in the backfield, though the offense looks improved, too. Junior Tyler Prattem, who leads the defense, is complemented primarily by classmate Jeff Monk and senior Pat Tatro.

Ryan Garrell and Kellan Grady handle long-stick duties in the midfield.

In net, senior Kris Butler, junior Shaun Vesey and sophomore Ethan Brown battle for playing time.

Lawson said he has yet to decide on who’s No. 1 but hopes the players make the decision for him.

Offensively, a handful of players are likely to contribute, said the coach.

That list includes seniors Shea McCarthy, Scott Mc- Curdy and Thomas Houle, and juniors Marc Perroni, Justin Colvin and Billy Lawson. Against Salem, McCarthy scored four times, and Mc- Curdy and Lawson each tallied three goals.

Houle and Colvin found the net as well.

Young Central team has coach with proven history

Hooksett Editor — Thu, 03 May 2007 14:34:00 GMT

BY SAPNA PATHAK

Back in the day, Bill Lawson was leading an inexperienced bunch of players on Bow’s boys lacrosse team. He thought he wouldn’t face that challenge again.

He was wrong.

Now head coach of the Central High boys lax squad, Lawson has to draw from his former days to develop another squad.

Lawson’s team is still adjusting, but three wins – as hosts to Salem and Memorial and visitors at Keene – have provided the confidence a young team needs.

“Many years ago I coached a very young team, but they came out and won the state championship,” said Lawson.

“I wouldn’t put that kind of pressure on these guys, but it is something I’m getting used to again. You have to tone things down, change how you deal with kids at practice.”

The Little Green posted an 11-9 win against Keene and an 8-4 victory over the Blue Devils, then handed the Crusaders an 11-3 loss on Monday, April 30.

Seniors Josh Tarbell and team captain Mike Martineau lead a roster dominated by sophomores, with some juniors and freshmen as well.

Against Memorial, Hooksett’s Scott McCurdy paced the Little Green with four goals. Sophomore Marc Perroni scored three goals and dished two assists. Hooksett junior Shea McCarthy added three shots and two assists.

Though he’s no stranger to teaching young players, Lawson said some drawbacks are unavoidable.

“The biggest thing is they’re not physically mature,” said Lawson. “We can get away with it against the bottom half of the tier but not the top teams. You have to teach, and teach and reteach things to them in practice. It’s not like having a loaded team where you expect things done right after one time.”

To fill a gap in the middle of the field, Lawson looked to Tarbell.

Moving the upperclassman from attacker to midfielder may mean fewer goals for Tarbell, but it bolsters the Little Green’s midgame against some of Class L’s better teams.

With this year’s postseason tournament including eight teams instead of the previous 12, the No. 8 seed, which Central has earned in the past, is the goal. And if the Little Green should earn a playoff berth, it must mature and mature fast.

“I’ve been in the eight-nine game two years now, and both have been great games,” said Lawson. “We’re young, so the approach in early games is different than I’d like, which doesn’t leave much room for error if we want to make the playoffs. We’re really gonna have to fight for a spot. That might mean some quick transformations.”

Lawson’s other Hooksett players are freshmen Ryan Bigg, Ryan Dempsey and Sean Hockensmith; sophomores Brandon Blackall and Jake Tremblay; juniors Kris Butler, Kellan Grady, McCarthy and McCurdy. Sophomores Justin Colvin, Shaun Vesey and Pat Tatro join the Little Green from Candia.

The Little Green visit Pinkerton Academy on Thursday, May 3.